Writer/Actor/Filmmaker

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Aside from my plans to start blogging again, the upcoming Pitch Wars makes this a good time to reintroduce myself! Pitch Wars is an online contest hosted by Brenda Drake where published authors/editors each choose a writer to mentor in order to help them polish & prep their novel for querying agents. Now that I’ve got Into The Black in a good place, I’ve decided to throw my hat in the ring! This post is part of the #PimpMyBio blog hop, an unofficial way for contestants to get to know each other.

Hello all! My name is Brian Work, and this is my first Pitch Wars. I finally have a finished manuscript that’s gone through a few drafts, and I’m looking forward to taking part, getting feedback, and meeting some cool people!

About My Book

Into The Black (YA Fantasy)

Blurb:
Sydney grew up idolizing his mother, a former bandit turned sheriff. Unfortunately, he didn’t inherit her fighting skills, and his magic is only useful as a nightlight. After bombing his evaluation for the Petrichor Martial Academy, Sydney lands a coveted spot because an old family friend needs a student on the inside he can trust. He tasks Sydney with a secret mission to unravel a conspiracy to eradicate non-humans. Sydney may be ill-equipped for the job, but he’s not going to pass up the chance to follow in his mother’s footsteps.

At Petrichor, Sydney befriends Lanei, an aspiring knight running from a life she never wanted. Lanei has spent her life watching knights turn their backs on anyone who isn’t human. She’s also witnessed firsthand just how dangerous magic and unchecked power can be. While Sydney struggles to survive his classes, Lanei conducts her own investigation into the anti-magic cult. But the deeper Lanei gets, the more her past becomes a liability.

When a fellow student is murdered, all signs point to Lanei. Now she and Sydney must work together to prove her innocence before someone else is killed.

Themes:Into The Black deals with equality, and the notion that nobody should be discriminated against because of how they look or how they were born. It’s about standing up for what’s right, even when you know it’s going to end badly for you. And it’s about family, specifically the family you choose that may not be related by blood.

I’ve made an effort to assemble a diverse cast of characters, in large part to reflect the diversity that I see in my classrooms. From speaking to my students, I know how much representation matters to teenagers, and I want to create characters they can see themselves as.

Origin:Into The Black started as a webcomic back when I was fresh out of high school. My artist (Marissa Trudel) and I only posted 10 pages before life got in the way and it fell apart. Over a decade later, the characters of Sydney and Lanei called out to me again. I scrapped everything except the most basic ideas about who they were and started from scratch, creating a new world for them to inhabit. I’m incredibly fortunate to still have Marissa as one of my biggest supporters and most enthusiastic beta readers, supplying me with incredible concept artwork (as seen above.)

Playlist:
Music is a huge part of my inspiration. My playlist for Into The Black has over 400 songs on it, but here are the top 10 tracks that get me in the mood for this story:
– Art of Dying – “Best I Can”
– Butch Walker – “Into The Black” (the inspiration for the title and one of the main themes)
– Butch Walker – “Take Tomorrow (One Day at a Time)”
– Fozzy – “Unstoppable”
– Halestorm – “I Am The Fire”
– Imagine Dragons – “Warriors”
– Jack’s Mannequin – “The Resolution”
– Lindsey Stirling feat. Lzzy Hale – “Shatter Me”
– Sixx:A.M. – “Life Is Beautiful”
– We Are The In Crowd – “Long Live The Kids”

About Me

I’ve been writing as long as I can remember (starting with stories about Snoopy or Mario on my mom’s old typewriter.) After discovering Suikoden and Final Fantasy VII in eighth grade, I made a video game website dedicated to them. Over the next five years, IcyBrian’s RPG Page grew to be the largest website on the internet for RPG fanfiction and fan art. It’s long since been abandoned, and now remains as a testament to my poor naming decisions.

My background is in theatre and film. I’ve been performing for 15 years at theatres in Atlanta, Chicago, Florida, & North Carolina. I spent three years in Chicago doing improv and sketch comedy. I’m back in Atlanta now, but absolutely loved my time in Chicago. Despite the freezing winters, I find myself in a constant state of wanting to move back.

I’ve always had a soft spot for romantic comedies. A play I wrote, Once Upon a RomCom: The Bill Pullman Story, was produced at a theatre in Chicago. In it, Bill Pullman falls into a deep depression after playing the “other guy” in numerous 90s romcoms, believing he’ll never find true love. It takes the help of his fairy godfather, Jeff Goldblum, to pull him out of his funk. The coolest part of the experience was when Bill Pullman mentioned the play on NPR and even sent us flowers!

For years my dream was to make a feature film, but I kept talking myself out of it. I finally decided that if I didn’t do it now, I never would, so I threw caution to the wind and wrote, directed, and produced Uncommon Law, a romantic comedy about two best friends and longtime roommates who, after years of bailing each other out of bad dates by pretending to be married, get a notice from the government that they are now common law married. It took me four grueling years to complete, but it’s finally out there for people to see on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Amazon Prime.

Since moving back to Atlanta, my creative efforts have shifted to writing fiction and teaching high school theatre. I love working with students who are passionate about theatre, helping them believe in themselves and accomplish feats they didn’t realize they were capable of. Out of everything I’ve done, teaching is without a doubt the most rewarding. The students I’ve worked with are truly remarkable and continue to inspire me. I push myself to succeed every day so I can show them that, with hard work and dedication, anything is possible.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this! I look forward to connecting with you all throughout Pitch Wars. I love talking to people, so don’t hesitate to hit me up on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. Cheers!

I had a great time talking with the Atlanta Film Chat podcast this week! We had a really fun conversation talking about Uncommon Law, writing, the struggles of making a film without a budget, my love for romantic comedies & Japanese RPGs, and more. Please download & give it a listen!

When you think of an “indie film” you don’t typically think of a romantic comedy. The genre gets derided as being formulaic and unimaginative. However, filmmakers like this week’s guest Brian Work disagree and only want to make the films they want to make.

Received a great surprise tonight at Once Upon a Rom Com: The Bill Pullman Story: Flowers from Bill Pullman himself! I’d like to send a huge thank you to Bill, and to the entire cast and crew for doing such an outstanding job on this show.

It’s official! Brian’s play, “Once Upon a Rom Com: The Bill Pullman Story,” is opening on September 5, 2012 at Gorilla Tango Theatre in Chicago! The play, which will run on Wednesday nights at 7:30pm through October 31, will be produced by Katie Johnston-Smith as a part of Gorilla Tango’s parody play series and will be directed by Neal Fischer.

Synopsis:
After making a career out of playing the “other guy” in numerous nineties romantic comedies, American actor extraordinaire Bill Pullman has sunk into a deep depression, believing he will never find true love. It will take the help of a fairy godfather in the form of the one and only Jeff Goldblum to pull him back together and save the girl of his dreams from a devious and wicked French lover. This is a real man’s fairy tale for the hopeless romantic in all of us!

Brian has completed principal photography on his feature film, Uncommon Law, and is now in post-production editing the movie. He has also moved to Chicago, where he is currently taking improv at iO and writing a pair of plays for Gorilla Tango Theatre.